UKPF Committee members

My research interests include studying hypervelocity impacts in the laboratory, studying surfaces returned from Low Earth orbit, investigating early solar system formation and evolution through the study of samples from comets and asteroids and investigating new methods for collecting extraterrestrial dust on Earth. I am currently a lecturer in space science at the University of Kent. Prior to this I have held postdoc positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US) and the University of Kent and a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Natural History Museum, London.

My main area of research is early solar system cosmochemistry and the formation of planetary bodies. I am currently a postdoc at the University of Bristol, using isotopes in meteorites to gauge the origin of volatiles delivered to Earth. Prior to this, I studied for a PhD at Imperial College London, researching nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies and the conditions in the solar nebula at the time of terrestrial planet formation. During my Masters at the University of Oxford, I worked on lunar samples brought back by the Apollo missions to determine a precise model age of the Moon, and via a Paneth Trust Internship, investigated meteorite fusion crust and chondrule formation at the Natural History Museum.

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum, currently investigating the origin of enstatite chondrites, using petrology and trace element analysis for insight into their curious reduced nature. I carried out my Ph.D. research at the NHM, working on a wide variety of extraterrestrial materials (ordinary and carbonaceous chondrites, Apollo rocks, martian meteorites) and techniques, to understand how X-ray micro-computed tomography could be applied. I’ve also worked as the NHM Meteorite Curator for four years, so I’ve developed a good understanding of the varied work carried out across the U.K. and worldwide, and I’m eager to see the world’s collections treasured and used responsibly.